} What is the purpose of Freemasonry? Why should I want to be a
} Freemason? What are some benefits?

Freemasonry's purposes include:

offering a place where a good man can work to make himself better,

providing a society where the best ideals of humanity's best ages
can be preserved, encountered, learned, and practiced,

giving men a place where they can find friendship, compassion,
and badly-catered chicken dinners.

I don't know you, so I don't know if there's any reason you should
want to be a Mason. What do you hope for in your life? What kind of
person do you want to be? What kind of accomplishments and happy events
do you want to reflect back on in your last days? Masonry can teach
self-restraint, brotherly love, respect and gratitude for humanity's
many blessings and gifts, and the value of hope for something beyond
this life. No guarantees, but that's what's available, and that's what
we're all working to learn.

The benefits include a really terrific looking little dues card each
year and a cool engraved diploma to display on your wall (American
lodges only), lots of people around the globe willing to greet you as
"brother" and assume your good intentions and trustworthyness (unless
you prove otherwise), a chance to memorize some really well-written 18th
century prose, and sometimes even a free grand lodge wall calendar.
(Despite common myths, Masonry can't offer automatic job promotions,
sympthetic Masonic policemen and judges who will excuse heinous crimes,
access to the Holy Grail, or even burial-cost insurance.)